Many medical devices, particularly implantable medical devices, are provided, in sterilized packages. For medical systems that include more than one device, it is often necessary to evaluate a first device of the system prior to connecting one device to another device of the system. An exemplary system includes an implantable generator device and an implantable electrical lead, which couples the generator device to a body of a patient. The performance of various types of implantable systems ranging from cardiac and neurological stimulators to diagnostic pressure sensors relies upon an effective interface between the electrical lead of the system and a particular site within the body of the patient. To determine whether or not an effective interface can be attained as well as to verify the operability of the leads, it is prudent to evaluate the interface between the one or more leads and the patient's body, at one or more implant sites, using a generator device such as an analyzer or a programmer.
Using the generator device, rather than the sterilized implantable device, for pre-implant testing, can prevent an unnecessary removal of the implantable device from its sterile packaging, if an effective interface between the one or more leads and the body cannot be attained. However, electronic circuitry of an analyzer may differ from that of an actual implantable generator device so that, in some situations, signals measured by the analyzer can differ enough from those measured by the actual device so as to limit the usefulness of the evaluation performed with the analyzer.